NZ sharemarket briefly at new 29-month high

Tuesday 8th February 2011

The New Zealand sharemarket briefly edged up to a new 29-month high when it opened today, then eased lower with key stock Telecom losing more than 1%.

Telecom (NZX: TEL ) lost 3c to $2.18 early, with Hellaby Holdings (NZX: HBY ) down 2c to $2.19.

The benchmark NZX-50 index was down 2.68 points around 10.15am to 3384.74, having been close to 3389 a few minutes earlier, its highest level since September 2008 when the global financial crisis hit markets.

Yesterday the index rose 19.6 points as Fletcher Building shares gained 19c to a three-month high.

Brokers attributed the rise yesterday to Fletcher Building's likely inclusion in the S&P/ASX 200 index after taking over Crane Group.

Telecom, which fell 3c yesterday, expects its weighting in the S&P/ASX 200 index will decrease to around 25% to 30% of its current level. Brokers said the weighting is currently around 0.26% and the changes are in a month's time.

Early today Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) was up 2c to $8.25 and Sky TV (NZX: SKT ) gained 2c to $5.42.

In the US, stocks closed with solid gains after several big acquisitions were announced and a strong earnings report from Loews Corp pushed financial companies higher.

Preliminary closing figures put the Dow Jones industrial average up 0.6% to 12,161, the Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 0.6% to 1319, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.5% to 2784.

NZPA

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